Covid-19 Impact in Zimbabwe

Covid-19 Impact in Zimbabwe: A Professional Lay Catholic’s View

Chris Mhike Harare based Lawyer

COVID-19’s Darkness

Today, several millennia after the divine creation of the universe, the theme of darkness persists intensely, particularly after the dawn of the Novel Corona Virus, commonly known as COVID-19. The ruinous epidemic has, within a space of six months brought about millions of infections, thousands of deaths, widespread strife, and historic impoverishment of families, communities, industries, and nations. Medical News Today, a highly authoritative health publication pronounced in its 29 June 2020 edition that the total number of cases as at the end of June 2020 had passed 10 million, and that to date, the virus has resulted in 501,000 deaths. These very grim statistics and the associated destruction have resulted in the domination of the news cycle with darkness on the vast majority of mainstream media – CNN, BBC, SABC, The Herald, NewsDay, DailyNews, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) NewZimbabwe.com, and numerous other secular mass media. While COVID-19 infection and mortality rates are significantly lower (just over 500 infections, and six deaths) in Zimbabwe, the nation has not been spared from the motif of darkness. Zimbabwean statistics regarding human rights violations, corruption linked to relief resources, incidents of domestic violence emanating from lockdown dynamics, and the complete halt to educational activities for the poor, all make for extremely dark reading. While the Bill of Rights has not been suspended during this lockdown season, certain elements of the uniformed forces have flagrantly breached the rights of citizens to human dignity and personal security. Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment has been utterly disregarded in dozens of situations, some of which have found their way to our courts of law. As a lawyer, I recently represented on different occasions, media practitioners whose journalistic and access to information rights had been shamelessly disparaged by ill-disciplined policemen and soldiers. In April 2020, the High Court (in the Lucia Masvondo case) ordered soldiers, police and other state security agents to respect human rights, the dignity of people and their fundamental freedoms during the implementation of lockdown laws. Masvondo, a Karoi woman had been bitten by dogs during the enforcement of lockdown regulations by state security agents. The delinquent officers assaulted her as she was cooked on an open fire, outside her home. This type of brutality during lockdown is not limited to Zimbabwe. On Africa Day this year, 25 May, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed by policemen in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA during an arrest for allegedly using counterfeit money. That dark Minnesota deed led to worldwide demonstrations over racial injustice, with protestors largely ignoring social distancing and all other COVID regulations. The darkness of the George Floyd protests recently spilled over to social media. At the end of May into early June 2020 what began as an attempt by two individuals (Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang) in the music sector to suspend business as usual, as part of protest suddenly broadened and morphed overnight on social media into a less focused action,

resulting in a sea of black boxes across Instagram and other platforms. It became darkness on social media. Coming back home, it goes without saying: corruption is rife in Zimbabwe. COVID seems to have worsened that malady. For example, on 20 June 2020, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Health and Child Care - Obadiah Moyo, was arrested over allegations of corruption and abuse of office regarding the procurement of coronavirus tests and other medical equipment. Moyo allegedly awarded a US$60 million contract to Drax Consult, a subsidiary of Drax International, without going through the proper procurement procedures. After securing an order for his release on bail, a picture linked to Minister Moyo went viral. It showed two

Harare City - Capital of Zimbabwe men lifting a brown box outside Harare Magistrate’s Court. The box apparently contained ZWL $50,000 notes, for payment of bail money. How on earth did Moyo manage to withdraw all that cash during acute cash shortages! Zimbabwean Banks rarely issue cash to ordinary depositors. And, where cash is available, withdrawal limits stagnated for over a year at just ZWL $ 300.00 per week. A few weeks ago, the limit was revised upwards to only ZWL $ 1,000.00 per week. [Of course, Minister Moyo is entitled to the presumption of innocence. He is innocent until proven guilty. But acts of corruption or accusations of same are not to be found only at ministerial levels. A few weeks ago, at a checkpoint on the entrance to a major

Harare hospital, I observed a security detail rigging a gate pass for a motorist. The pass was quickly completed, without the motorist’s body temperature being checked, and without other precautionary processes that ought to precede the issuance of that pass, taking place.

It Got Darker After Closure of the Churches

Perhaps these deeply dark levels of depravity and suffering in Zimbabwean and other foreign societies are the result of the closure of Churches that came with the Covid lockdown. As Government announced lockdown, the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC), other local denominations, and religious authorities around the world suspended daily and Sunday group worship. 27

The administration of the sacraments, including the all-important last rites, was frozen. Going for weeks and months without spiritual nourishment certainly leads to starvation of the soul for vast segments of the Christian family. The unavailability of weekday and Sunday Masses was a major blow for the spiritual welfare of many faithful men, women and children of the Church. For me, it has been a tough wilderness experience, with its dark moments. Going out for a lunch-time Mass on a professionally challenging day has, in the past, proven to be a miraculously therapeutic intervention for me. That divine relief has been unavailable during this COVID-19 lockdown season. Going through this Easter season away from the places of worship that have become familiar to us was a particularly difficult experience. Of course, online platforms and social media tools have been availed to the faithful as a measure of ameliorating the prevalent spiritual kwashiorkor; and we thank God for the beauty and utility of that cutting-edge technology. But it’s not quite the same as the physical presence in houses of worship, section meetings, public ordinations, processions and other in-the-flesh prayer gatherings. Perhaps the resultant spiritual deficit could therefore partly explain the

Light Expels Darkness

The temptation, amidst the raging darkness of COVID-19, is for one to leave the story at that dark page and simply say – the virus is devastating, or that darkness has now taken over the world. The Scriptures teach us that the passion of Christ does not end with the darkness of the grave. Joy comes in the morning. The Resurrection came with the light. Amidst the total darkness described in Genesis 1 the Spirit of God moved over the water. The very first output of God’s creation was light. God commanded, “Let there be light” - and light appeared. (Genesis 1:1-2 GNT). The legal cases related to Covid-19 that I have been blessed to take up in this lockdown season made it abundantly clear to me that I, together with my brothers and sisters in Christ, must rise up and be part of the battle to overcome darkness. We must remove the light we received at baptism from underneath the bowl, and hoist it onto a high pedestal in our nation (Matthew 5:15). For light dispels darkness. The darker the situation in Zimbabwe and in the world at large, the brighter our light should be as a manifestation of finding God in spite of the darkness. Over the centuries the Church, as a religious institution, has been a perceivable light to the darkness that periodically grips our world. In Zimbabwe, from the early days of Rhodesia through to the post-independence era, the Catholic Church played and continues to play, a crucial role in the nation’s enlightenment and restoration of sight through education, healing through Mission hospitals and clinics, restoration of liberty through the prisons ministry and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), and eradication of societal darkness through various other apostolates and liturgical activities. But, in this year of the dreaded virus, the call for light comes to the individual Christian. You, the individual, are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14). Ultimately, God is always present even in what appears to be total darkness; and, where darkness appears to reign, the Church … as an institution, or the individual Christian, as a chosen daughter or son of God, is called upon to move over the raging waters and to dispel the darkness by shining as a bright light to the world. Light certainly conquers darkness.

•Chris Mhike is a Jesuit-educated Harare based lawyer, a member of the Catholic Professionals Network of Zimbabwe, and a Parishioner of the Sacred Heart Cathedral (Harare).